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| Creator | BandanaSplitzzz |
| Engine | FE8 |
| Download | Here |
| Score | 61/80 |
| Rank | 6th |
| FEU Link | Here |
Reviews
Judge 1: Darrman
Gameplay: 6/10
Rust focuses more on its presentation than its gameplay. You control one unit, and he has to wander around the ruins just outside of town. The goal is “???”, though the status screen elaborates to escape. Along the way there are many hidden items to be found, with the tiles to search being highlighted at the start of the turn. This is your only guidance for most of the chapter. The map is almost but not quite Thracia fog: the mini map is disabled, but terrain can faintly be seen through the fog. With a few exceptions combat is against weak and inaccurate zombies, though you and the clones you create with various staves are not very strong either.
Ultimately, the gameplay boils down to walking around, checking suspicious tiles, and occasionally sitting on a pillar to dodge a zombie. Weaponry is limited and I did manage to softlock myself once after using an item I should not have and running into a tile with no escape after enemy phase.
Presentation: 4/5
The atmosphere here is very chilling. There is something very clearly wrong with these ruins, and the music playing in the background adds to this. The map uses FE5 tiles, and the character portraits are fine. Touches such as fading to black while stepping through dark stairways also help set the mood. The only factors stopping this from getting a 5 are a text overflow when the talk display says “the Marshall” and some of the music tracks running out if lingered on for too long, breaking the immersion. Otherwise, this does an excellent job of setting the mood.
Did I mention winners don’t use drugs?
Story: 3/5
Rather than tell a conventional tale, the story is broken up and scattered about the map. It opens with a disembodied voice asking for name entry: the name you enter is the protagonist’s name. He had quickly scrawled a letter with no capitalisation or punctuation whatsoever to a Sylvia before escaping from town. From there, details of military plans from centuries past are scattered across the ruins, along with the unpleasant consequences of the cloning staves needed to progress. Upon fulfilling the requirements to escape from the woods, a few dramatic revelations are made, but I felt the story ended abruptly and could have done with an extra scene showing off what happened after the escape and the consequences of the big reveal.
Total Score: 13/20
Judge 2: Rivian
Gameplay: 7/10
This hack goes for an interesting horror spin on FE. The Thracia fog, limited weapon/health supply and fairly weak player unit had me slowly crawling through the map. I felt constantly tense as I did not know what to expect and what I was looking for, which is good for the intent. The automatons were a neat way to add some diversity, though they are still limited by the small weapon stockpile. The two torches and shiny frames over nearby locations helped have some kind of direction to follow even in the fog. I methodically cleared the whole map before arriving at the door. It feels like the hack shows its hand fairly early with what is available, the summon mechanics and enemies, and doesn’t really shake things up further into the map. The mystery factor eventually disappears and it turns into more of a long walk. I do overall enjoy the fresh take on what can be done with the FE format and hope for more things like this.
Presentation: 4/5
The additional graphics can clash a little with FE8 graphics, but how the hack is presented as a whole does what it wishes to achieve well. There is also a lot of good eventing to try and sell the vibe. I am very bad with horror stuff so just a dark background with repeating footsteps was enough to set me on the edge. The demon scene and chase scenes were also neatly done.
Story: 4/5
It was intriguing to be drip fed the details of what was going in this place, and the presentation of the various old letters is neat. There were some cool details such as the letters saying what things should not be done after casting the rituals, which are things the player does in the course of gameplay. I can’t help but be left with a lot of uncertainty, as I’m sure tends to happen in these kinds of games. Left me wanting for a little more to fill some gaps and I wondered if there is an alternate ending I’ve missed, but maybe this was the intended effect.
Total Score: 15/20
Judge 3: Legend of Loog
Gameplay: 7/10
The chapter throws you right in with an unclear objective, and the only way for you to get closer to figuring it out is roaming around and using Investigate on the tiles that are highlighted each turn, which are only highlighted when you have vision of said tile. This leads to gameplay where you roam around the map carefully in the fog, finding various items (Staves that summon new blues to use, limited weapons), and run into enemies which pose a threat, though nothing major. The main threat I found was running out of weapon uses, which fits the survival vibe. There was a lot of backtracking overall, but despite some tedium toward the end, I really appreciated the uniqueness of this entry and its different approach.
Presentation: 4/5
Immediately from the start of the chapter, it’s clear that a lot of effort has been put in to sell the “survival horror” atmosphere that the chapter is shooting for. Whether this be unique CGs, the careful choice of music and sound effects that play during events, and other small touches, it very much succeeds at its goal. The only issue that comes to mind is one track that plays after opening the gate in the top right. While I understand the goal of making the new monster seem otherworldly, it goes a bit too far and makes my ears hurt. Otherwise, this was the part of the hack that impressed me most, by far.
Story: 3/5
The story centers around a character (which you can name) who abandons their sister and tries to escape a cursed forest, coming into contact with various mysteries and horrors as they try to escape. It’s a fairly compelling experience, and I found myself more and more invested in seeing what would happen as the chapter went on. The ending falls a bit flat, and I think it could have used a bit more here, as it made me believe there was another ending I missed out on. There are a few typos here and there, and the use of caps lock took away from it at times, but it was still an interesting read overall.
Total Score: 14/20
Judge 4: Levin64
Gameplay: 10/10
A puzzle hack! I love this! The cursor showing points of interests around the vision before a turn starts is very intuitive. This is more of a story-focused hack, but the gameplay does really enhance the story. The win condition being ??? does provide more mystery, and if players pay attention to the dialogue, the objective is pretty clear, I think. The automatons do help a ton, providing more vision; discovering more points of interest, and can be decoys sometimes. One gripe tho, the supply doesn’t really function so it should just be removed to give more suspense to the player as in “oh god I have to discard an item?” while having a tight inventory due to the player’s objective, you know.
Presentation: 4/5
Thracia map with Thracia fog of war; combined with horror aspects for the story and immersive gameplay? Absolutely stunning. The music which can dynamically change depending on the ‘mood’ of how the story progresses is something I always appreciate, since I absolutely love audio visual elements integrated into the story. Although the suspense music was gyrating on my ears, I had to lower my volume since it’s SO loud compared to other map themes. The underground scenes do break from FE standards, and I needed to get used to it; yet the suspense, man. It is a freshly done concept and executed really well! The portraits are great; F2U assets but the ones used are perfect for the setup of this hack. The loading screen and title screen definitely sets up the vibe, and the in-game things are made wonderfully. Love it!
Story: 5/5
Horror, mystery, and puzzle combined? And it’s presented on FE8? This is really amazing! I’m so invested with how the story progresses, especially with many cryptic messages here and there (this is my first time playing a story-focused hack with horror in it; Souls of the Forest does play into the horror aspect but I feel this hack does the opposite spectrum, and is being executed wonderfully!) The ending is… perfect, with how “us” being desperate and after knowing the truth (which might be one or not) decided to save their skin, very heartbreaking. I am so looking forward to more creations from the writer. Superb!
Total Score: 19/20
Results
| Category | Darr | Rivian | Loog | Levin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 30 |
| Presentation | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| Story | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| Total | 13 | 15 | 14 | 19 | 61 |